super basic shield question

[Mahali]

We consider Shield pretty worthless if you don't know that it will cause a miss when you use it.

Besides it's fun when the DM asks if a "x" hits and I can say "Not this time!".

 

[yesnomu]

My DM clearly displays the attack rolls (we play online over Maptools), so I always know when Shield is useful and usually what the attack will do to me if it hits. Under these circumstances, I love Shield and will not retrain it for anything currently available.

I don't know if it's too powerful like this, but I do know that it works perfectly with my playstyle (I hate getting hurt).

EDIT: I even bought a Shielding Girdle for my Barbarian in another game, just so I could have a similar power.

 

[hvg3akaek]

We consider Shield pretty worthless if you don't know that it will cause a miss when you use it.

Do you miss the part of the power that says the +4 bonus to AC and Reflex lasts "until the end of your next turn"? hardly useless, even if it were never to stop the triggering attack!

 

[deleteme123456]

Yeah, 4 ac/reflex for a turn a nice, gives you the option to take an OA with a lot less risk if you need to position yourself, since like 99% of OAs are going to be vs AC, and you just added an extra 20% miss chance to all those rolls? That's not bad.

 

[Trebor62]

Shield has come up in the Dnd podcasts and the DM has let the Wizard know the number, so that the Wizard would know if Shield would turn it into a miss or not. player.

 

[Mahali]

Do you miss the part of the power that says the +4 bonus to AC and Reflex lasts "until the end of your next turn"? hardly useless, even if it were never to stop the triggering attack!

Not at all, but if you just jacked your AC by 4 pts they're less likely to swing at you and go for you allies instead. Sort of a Win/Lose or Win/Win depending on how you feel about your party

 

[Trebor62]

If it was not intended to be reserved for stopping the triggering attack the I would expect shield to require the Wizard to state his use of it before the attack was made not after he has been hit.

 

[eamon]

Fluff wise too I'd expect an in-game character to tell the difference between a glancing blow and skull-crusher. In general, I'd expect many meta-game stats to be visible reflected in some fashion in-game, if not with perfect precision; probably more stats than the PC's actually know.

In short, don't screw the player's by withholding information without good reason - they probably know too little as it is.

 

[Stalker0]

There are two people in this thread with direct experience saying no, it's not.

Well here's one saying yes it is

I let me player know the range of the attack so he chooses when shield is used. It comes up a lot, and I can't think of a better utility to take. Ex. Retreat and Feather fall are okay, but I always lean towards encounter utilities unless the daily gives a big big or long lasting effect. Cleric's bless....a great utility daily, feather fall not so much. And Jump....well....nah

 

[Majushi]

While I support the free exchange of information in this case, so the Wizard isn't gimped, I also agree with Stalker0.

Unless the dailies are awesome, Shield just cannot be beat.